William Sturgeon | |
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| Born | (1783-05-22)22 May 1783 Whittington,Lancashire, England |
| Died | 4 December 1850(1850-12-04) (aged 67) Prestwich, Lancashire, England |
| Resting place | Church of St Mary the Virgin, Prestwich |
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William Sturgeon (/ˈstɜːrdʒən/; 22 May 1783 – 4 December 1850) was an Englishelectrical engineer and inventor who made the firstelectromagnet and the first practicalelectric motor.
Sturgeon was born on 22 May 1783 inWhittington, nearCarnforth,Lancashire, and became apprenticed to a shoemaker.
Sturgeon joined the army in 1802 and taught himselfmathematics andphysics. In 1824 he became lecturer in Science and Philosophy at theEast India Company'sMilitary Seminary at Addiscombe, Surrey, and in the following year he exhibited his first electromagnet.[2] He displayed its power by lifting nine pounds with a seven-ounce piece of iron wrapped with wire through which a current from a single battery was sent.
In 1832 he was appointed to the lecturing staff of the Adelaide Gallery of Practical Science inLondon, where he first demonstrated theDC electric motor incorporating a commutator.
In 1836 he established the journalAnnals of Electricity, Magnetism and Chemistry, and in the same year he invented agalvanometer.[2]
Sturgeon was a close associate ofJohn Peter Gassiot andCharles Vincent Walker, and the three were instrumental in founding theLondon Electrical Society in 1837.[3]
In 1840 he became superintendent of theRoyal Victoria Gallery of Practical Science inManchester. He formed a close social circle withJohn Davies, one of the Gallery's promoters, and Davies's studentJames Prescott Joule, a circle that eventually extended to includeEdward William Binney and the surgeonJohn Leigh.[4] The Gallery closed in 1842, and he earned a living by lecturing and demonstrating.
In 1843 he started the monthly journal,The Annals of Philosophical Discovery and Monthly Reporter of the Progress of Practical Science; issue 1 of volume 1 is dated July 1843. Each month's issue contains a mixture of original "long" papers (over 5 pages long), republished papers from foreign journals (translated where necessary) and shorter articles. However, the journal did not prove successful, and ceased publication at the end of volume 1, in December 1843. This single volume is archived at Internet.org.[5]
Sturgeon died inPrestwich,Lancashire (now inGreater Manchester) on 4 December 1850.[2] He is buried there, in the churchyard of theSt Mary the Virgin: he is identified on his grave slab as "William Sturgeon – The Electrician".
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